A Seattle man named Corey Koscielniak, 29-years old, shared how he wanted to stop his recurring tithe that amounted to $10.48 as his monthly contribution to Onward Together.

No Cancellation

The said organization was formed by Hillary Clinton after she lost in 2016 US Elections. Koscielniak claimed he wanted to stop his monthly contribution since the non-profit group failed to disclose the information on how they spent the money. However, what appalled him the most was that while OT accepted your initial payment information, they didn’t offer an option for the donors to alter or cancel their donations. Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Koscielniak’s lawyer, said that they were able to use the cancel button on their website. However, Koscielniak’s bank account still reflected a $10.48 withdrawal from Onward Together.

Koscielniak wrote a complaint to the Attorney General’s Office in Washington State last week to stop OT from charging $10 on his bank account

This isn’t the first time that political groups have implemented aggressive tactics to ask for contributions. Most of the time, they blast emails to the public and persuade them to become donors. After the news exploded, one potential Clinton backer shared the email he received 11 months after the election. The email indicated that Clinton herself took a few long walks in the woods after her defeat last 2016.

However, she had moved on from the said unfortunate event, and she’s now ready to fight again. Just because she lost her presidency it doesn’t mean she can’t serve her country anymore. In line with that, she wishes to create a fairer, more inclusive country and she can only do that by supporting leaders and civic groups and urge them to run into office. She’s also asking for help in realizing her vision by becoming a Founding Donor to her nonprofit group for only $10 as your monthly donation.

The Onward Together Group

Clinton founded OT in 2017 to help civic groups to raise funds, conduct training, and make introductions to advisors and donors. Furthermore, the OT was listed as 501(c)(4) under the federal tax code. This means that the organization is exempted from tax and not required to reveal their donors.

Clinton’s communications director, Nick Merrill, stated that the organization just donated up to $1 million to various groups and it hopes to exceed its donation after 2018

Furthermore, Merrill stated that Koscielniak’s case has already been resolved. They made sure to address the issue quickly and make sure such cases won’t happen again in the future. He assured Koscielniak that the recent withdrawal made on his account will be reimbursed on his accounts. However, Koscielniak said that he’ll determine whether or not last months payment was canceled when he’ll receive his bank statement next month.

A Dark Money Group

Aside from Clinton, the Republican strategist Karl Rove and former President Barack Obama have been involved in 501(c)(4) groups before. They sometimes fulfill their murky roles and engage in a political activity through these groups, although they didn’t have primary roles to represent said groups. Paul S. Ryan, however, warns the public that these so-called political organizations are nothing but “classic dark-money groups”.

Paul Ryan is also a member of the watchdog group named Common Cause

This is due to the fact that the federal law doesn’t require them to disclose their donors, which makes it easy for illegal users to fund political campaigns. Furthermore, he added that these donors don’t have accountability of the role of these political groups.

He also added that Koscielniak’s experience as a result of “bad management”, since they force their donors to pay money to fund the group. What do you think about Onward Together? Do you think Clinton should continue the said group?